For all his smiley humility, house wife-delighting politeness and outward displays of eagerness to please, Will Young is clearly no pushover. As 'Friday's Child''s lounging sways and perilously understated melodies prove, he may have won 'Pop Idol' - created lest we forget, by two of the most overbearing pop svengalis of living memory, Simon Cowell (Westlife, The Tweenies) and Simon Fuller (Spice Girls, S Club 7), but he has no intention of submitting to his preordained role of disposable teen pin-up. At least not while Gareth Gates is still around to play the part for him.
Although technically his second album, 'Friday's Child' is the start of Young's career proper. With his debut, 'From Now On', he fulfilled his 'Pop Idol' obligations: made the best of dismally wet singles 'Evergreen' and 'Anything Is Possible', regurgitated everyone's favourite Will covers and cunningly slipped in a handful of co-written jazzy moments to assert that mindless pap really wasn't his cup of tea. Now, with a freehand and impassioned slurring, he stresses the point, putting as much distance between him and the vacuous world of reality TV as possible.
With little in the way of straight-up pop, let alone obvious singles, his choice of career path is undoubtedly a gamble. But it's one that shows admirable integrity and is, for the most part, amply repaid.
First single, and - encouragingly - Number One, 'Leave Right Now' is all tender guitar arpeggios, shimmering strings and trademark Young belting, and sets the tone for both the album and his future. Beautifully underplayed, yet wrought with believable emotion, it bags him as a Grade A crooner capable of selling the simplest of songs. And thankfully there's plenty more where that came from. The woozy 'Stronger', melancholic 'Very Kind' and the title track's swooning aquatic strings are all made for a world where seduction and sensuality count for more than sales figures and chart positions.
Admittedly Will comes unstuck when he tries to up the tempo. The cover of The Isley Brothers' 'Love The One You're With' and the disco dancing 'Out Of My Mind' are attempts at 'funky' which would have Curiosity Killed The Cat cringing. But with the moody Bill Withers sampling strut of 'Free' and 'Going My Way', a sumptuous old-soul smoulder, he succinctly dismisses any 'one trick pony' accusations.
Having racked up a staggering tally of Number Ones, it's a brave man who argues with Cowell and Fuller's processed pop formula. If he keeps making albums like this though, Will Young may yet have the last laugh.
